Economy tops voter concerns in exit polls

Election 2012: The best photos – A blur of waving flags greeted President Barack Obama's victory speech at an election night event in Chicago, Illinois.

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Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden look ahead to a second term and vowed to fight for equal opportunity for all.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Flags fluttered in Chicago as President Barack Obama delivered his victory speech after being reelected for a second term.

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Election 2012: The best photos – First lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden hugged and will spend four more years in the public eye.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Red, white and blue confetti snowed down on President Barack Obama after a victory speech that promised brighter days ahead.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A supporter listened intently to President Barack Obama's victory speech in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – "We know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come," President Obama said in a victory speech met by prolonged cheers.

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Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama embraced Vice President Joe Biden after delivering his victory speech at McCormick Place in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – With first lady Michell Obama at his side, President Barack Obama gave the crowd a wave at an election night celebration in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Children climbed trees outside the White House in Washington as people celebrated President Obama's victory at the polls.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A South Korean woman carried a cardboard cutout of Republican Mitt Romney at an election night party in Seoul. South Koreans watched the race closely.

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Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama rode a wave of broad support from minorities, women and moderates to win re-election.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Emotion washed over an Obama supporter as the newly reeleted president deivered his victory speech in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama embraced first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia moments before he delivered a rousing victory speech.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Obama supporters beamed and cheered as he delivered an inspiring and inclusive victory speech.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Victorious, President Barack Obama was joined onstage by first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Young Obama supporters watched the president stride onto the stage to deliver his victory speech.

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Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama clapped onstage in Chicago as the crowd cheered his reelection.

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Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama walked onstage with first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia to deliver his victory speech.

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Election 2012: The best photos – People gathered in Times Square in New York City and celebrated four more years in office for President Barack Obama.

Election 2012: The best photos – Voter Sheresa Walker used a flashlight for poll worker Lloyd Edwards in a tent set up as a polling place in Queens, New York. The area is still reeling from Superstorm Sandy.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Shadows were cast on a wall next to a television advertising "Election Night 2012" inside the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, where Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was scheduled to speak Tuesday evening.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A volunteer prepared ballots at a polling station in San Francisco, California.

Election 2012: The best photos – A voter's bicycle leaned against a wall at a lifeguard station, home to a polling place in Hermosa Beach, California.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Voters walked past a plethora of campaign signs after casting their ballots at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Jesse James, whose home was damaged by Superstorm Sandy, prepared to vote in a makeshift tent set up as a polling place in Rockaway Park, a neighborhood in Queens, New York.

Election 2012: The best photos – President Obama greeted supporters outside a campaign office in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A jogger on The Strand in the Los Angeles area community of Hermosa Beach passed a directional sign to a polling place at sunrise.

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Election 2012: The best photos – The stage was set for Obama's election night event in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – James Tate, 45, held a sign in support of the Republican ticket in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A nun waited in line to cast her vote in Janesville, Wisconsin.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Children's books about politics lined a wall where citizens waited to cast their vote in Janesville, Wisconsin.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Volunteer David Bowser peeked outside the Pinellas County Democratic Party headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Election inspector Jim Nodorft prepared to hang the U.S. flag outside the Smelser Town Hall as polls opened at 7 a.m. in Georgetown, Wisconsin.

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Election 2012: The best photos – People headed to a polling station at Washington's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Tuesday.

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Election 2012: The best photos – The sunrise was visible through a bus window on Election Day in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Voters entered Washington Mill Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia, to cast their ballots Tuesday.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Rain did no deter voters from waiting in line in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Sunshine State -- with its 29 electoral votes -- was a key player in determining the next president.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A young girl peered out from under a voting booth as her mother cast a ballot at the Bishop Leo O'Neil Youth Center in Manchester, New Hampshire.

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Election 2012: The best photos – William Carpenter, an assistant fire chief, put up an election rules sign at the entrance of a firehouse polling station Tuesday in Port Royal, Virginia.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Poll worker David Smith used a tape measure to mark a boundary at a Bowling Green, Ohio, school to keep local politicians 100 feet away from where voters cast ballots.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Precinct official Bill Partlow inspected a voting machine before polls open Tuesday in Pineville, North Carolina.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Voters in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, waited shortly after midnight to cast the first Election Day ballots of the U.S. presidential race. For the first time in the village's history, there was a tie.

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Story highlights

Exit polls Tuesday night find economy by far voters' top issue

Health care and the deficit were also major concerns

Political experts watching the racial breakdown of voter turnout

It's little surprise that the economy weighed heavily on the minds of voters as they exited the polls Tuesday.

After all, for the better part of a year, both President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney tried to make the case that their respective plans were the best fix for an ailing economy buffeted by high unemployment, anemic home sales and high foreclosure rates.

"It's an election in a year when the economy is in a very slow, grinding recovery, so it's sort betwixt and between, right? It's neither the kind of booming recovery that would have given Obama an easy win nor the kind of really ugly jobs picture that we had a year ago," CNN contributor and New York Times columnist Ross Douthat said Tuesday on CNN Newsroom.

Just Watched

First exit poll results

Sixty percent of those polled by CNN as they finished voting listed the economy as the most important issue. Those exit polls provide a window into voters' thoughts in some of the most-closely watched states of Florida, Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire.

Of those voters who were asked about the biggest economic problem facing "people like you," 38% said it was unemployment, 37% said rising prices, 14% said taxes and 8% said it was the housing market.

Of those who voted Tuesday, 25% said they were doing better today compared with four years ago, 32% said they were doing worse and 42% said they were doing about the same.

The last government unemployment figures before Election Day showed more of the incremental economic growth that Obama heralds as continued recovery and Romney labels insufficient.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy added 171,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose to 7.9%, up from 7.8% in September after being above 8% since February 2009 -- the month after Obama took office.

More voters in the swing states of Florida, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia blame George W. Bush than Obama for the state of the U.S. economy. Florida, Ohio and Virginia were still too close to call late Tuesday night.

And exit polling suggests that in the critical battleground state of Ohio, 59% of voters polled approve of the federal government's aid to U.S. automakers while 36% disapprove.

House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday said he was "very confident" that Mitt Romney will win his home state of Ohio on Tuesday, but acknowledged that the auto bailout has helped the president with some voters here.

"Romney is doing well in Ohio. You know, polls don't decide elections, voters do," the speaker said Sunday, though he later added "the auto bailout may help the president in Ohio a little."

Health care and the deficit also ranked high with voters.

That, too, was no surprise.

The U.S. Supreme Court's narrow upholding of the health care reform law this summer gave Obama and Democrats a morale boost and riled Republicans who vowed to repeal the law "lock, stock and barrel." The two presidential candidates' rival proposals to trim the nation's debt provided for some of the liveliest exchanges during the presidential debates.

In the battleground state of Florida, which has a large elderly population, 49% of voters said Obama would better handle Medicare, while 47% gave the nod to Romney.

Meanwhile, 29% of those polled said they want someone who has a vision for the future and a nearly identical number, 27%, want someone who shares their values; 21% say the top quality they were looking for is whether a candidate cares about people like them, while 18% want a strong leader.

The racial breakdown of turnout will also deeply impact the election, political experts say.

"One important indicator I will be looking at Election Night is the question of ethnicity -- and how the white vs. the nonwhite population splits," CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger wrote for CNN. "In the 2008 election, 74% of the electorate was white. That percentage has declined recently because of the growth in the Hispanic and voting African-American population."